After dissecting the ten-best draft picks the Giants have made since the AFL-NFL merger, we're taking some time for the same look at the Jets. We will look a little deeper than the 1970 merger, since a few essential Jets were picked in the 1960s, and you can't tell the story of the New York Jets without them.
10. QB Ken O'Brien: Round 1, Pick 24 (1983)
The Jets have long been chided for not having a true franchise quarterback since Joe Namath. But perhaps the closest they came to drafting one was from the class with the most glittering group of franchise QBs in NFL history, when they selected Ken O'Brien with the 24th overall pick in the famed 1983 draft.
O'Brien's biggest problem was that he wasn't Dan Marino, who was taken four picks later by the Dolphins and lit up the league for 15 years before ending up in the Hall of Fame. If not for that sad juxtaposition, O'Brien would have been cherished for the fine passer he was. The QB out of UC-Davis connected often with Al Toon and Wesley Walker on those high-octane teams of the mid-1980s, and was selected to the Pro Bowl twice: in 1985 and '91. He also had some of the most fabulous passing duels with Marino that the league had ever seen, highlighted by a 51-45 game at the old Giants Stadium, during which O'Brien tossed four TDs (two of them to Walker), including the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
O'Brien's best year may have been 1985, when he won AFC Player of the Year, for completing 25 touchdowns passes while amassing 3,888 yards. He ended his 10-year NFL career second among all Jets quarterbacks in passing yards (24,386) and TD passes (124). And he should have retired with a larger Gang Green legacy.
9. S Jamal Adams: Round 1, Pick 6 (2017)
Getty Images Adams was drafted in the first round of the 2017 Draft. Respected personnel man and ESPN commentator Louis Riddick loved Adams the moment he saw the hard-charging safety at LSU. Adams is feared, fearless and a tackling machine. He's been to the Pro Bowl twice in his three years, including a first-team All-Pro nod. He's notched 273 total tackles in his brief career, and registered 12 sacks from a position not often charged with charging the quarterback.
There are a few ways a player can reach the HOF - longevity, compiling stats over endless seasons or by dominating the sport for a shorter period of time and leaving no doubt of your dominance. To that end, as long as Adams doesn't suffer chronic pain or frequent injuries, his career will end in Canton.
8. WR Al Toon: Round 1, Pick 10 (1985)
Toon was the tenth overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft, out of Wisconsin, back when the Big Ten was purely pounding the ball with the occasional pass just to say they tried it. But once he got into the NFL, Toon had the Jets singing his tunes. A Pro Bowl selection over three of his first four seasons, Toon had the size, speed and sticky hands that made him impossible to guard with one cornerback. Picture a 1980s versos of Julio Jones, and that was Toon. And once he was paired with Wesley Walker, the Jets had pyrotechnic passing attack.
Toon led the league in catches in 1988, with 93, and finished with 517 career receptions. Sadly, Toon's career was cut short by concussions, retiring in his prime long before head trauma was seriously regarded by the league.
7. WR Wesley Walker: Round 2, Pick 33 (1977)
Walker was picked in the second round of the 1977 draft. He made an instant impact in his sophomore season, leading the NFL in receiving yards, yards per game and yards per catch. He finished his 13-year career with the second-most TD catches in club history and receiving yards, behind only Don Maynard. Walker's 19 yards per catch were most in Jets history. And if you consider he did all of that while legally blind in his left eye, it makes his milestones even more impressive.
Getty Images Snagged in the second round of the 1979 NFL Draft, Gastineau spent a decade with Gang Green, as a vital member of the New York Sack Exchange. If you can forgive his spastic sack dances, Gastineau was truly unblockable from 1981 through 1985, during which he was in the Pro Bowl every year, and was a three-time first-team All-Pro. Gastineau also set the all-time single-season sack record in 1984 with 22 — a record that should still stand if not for the staged, gifted sack Brett Favre gave to Michael Strahan years later.
Sadly, Gastineau is well-known for a penalty in a playoff game, during which he hit Bernie Kosar late on a failed fourth down. The extra play allowed the Browns to tie and eventually win the game, and forever become known as the Gastineau Game. That's not really fair. Gastineau was not known as the best all-around defensive lineman. But he was among the first edge rushers to wreak havoc on opposing QBs and remind them of said sacks with an ugly dance. His style was refreshingly '80s, as was his wild mullet. Gastineau was really good, just not great enough for Canton.
5. RB Freeman McNeil: Round 1, Pick 3 (1981)
Drafted by the Jets out of UCLA with the third overall pick in the 1981 NFL Draft, McNeil was part of the golden age of running backs. McNeil spent all 12 of his NFL seasons with the Jets. While Curtis Martin gets all the love as the team's preeminent halfback, McNeil was right behind him in stats, and played in way more playoff games in a Jets uniform. McNeil's best campaign came in 1982, when he was named to the Pro Bowl, first-team All-Pro, and ran for 349 yards in three playoff games, averaging 5.7 yards per rush, before the Jets finally sunk in Miami during the infamous 1982 AFC title game called "Mudd Bowl" — a game the Jets lost 14-0. McNeil also won the rushing title during the truncated 1982 season, averaging a robust 5.2 yards per carry, and finished his career with over 8,000 rushing yards.
McNeil didn't have the flash of Eric Dickerson, the worship afforded Walter Payton, or the pedigree of Tony Dorsett. But McNeil very much fit in with the gaggle of great runners in the 1980s, even if he wasn't an immortal.
4. C Nick Mangold: Round 1, Pick 29 (2006)
Drafted out of Ohio State in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft, Mangold may be the second-best lineman in team history, just behind Kevin Mawae (who was not drafted by the Jets). Mangold and fellow draft classmate, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, were road graders for years, protecting Mark Sanchez during those two improbable runs to the AFC championship game,
Like Mawae, Mangold played center, which is also captain of the offensive line. And few did it better than No. 74, who was known for his intelligence, toughness and long blonde locks flowing from his helmet. In 11 seasons, Mangold reached the Pro Bowl seven times, and was first-team All-Pro twice. Centers don't really have signature moments. In fact, we often hear about linemen only when they goof. But while Mangold can't summon sexy stats as a center, he should follow Mawae to the sexiest of post-career destinations: the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
3. CB Darrelle Revis: Round 1, Pick 14 (2007)
Getty Images Revis played just 108 games for the Jets, and picked off just 25 passes, but that was largely because anxious quarterbacks refused to throw his way. If Revis had one talent that matched his on-field brilliance, it was his ability to get paid, signing a slew of new contracts before his old deals were over. Revis bounced from the Big Apple to Tampa, then New England, then back to Gotham before finishing his career with a few nondescript games in Kansas City. Revis was a true mercenary in the age of free agency. But he will forever be branded a Jet. And soon enough he will be forever a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2. DL Joe Klecko: Round 6, Pick 144 (1977)
Talk abut value. The best defensive lineman in Jets history was picked in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL Draft. Klecko is also the only NFL player in history to be selected to the Pro Bowl at three different positions. Part of the famed New York Sack Exchange, which included Gastineau, Abdul Salaam, and Marty Lyons, few doubted that Klecko was the anchor of that defensive front. Even as Gastineau made his unorthodox sack dances a popular sideshow every Sunday, Klecko was the boss of the group. A four-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro over 11 seasons as a Jet, Klecko was indeed the most feared player on the Jets defense and the best defensive lineman in the NFL for his ephemeral salad days between 1981 and '85.
Klecko is not in the Hall of Fame because he allegedly wasn't great enough for long enough. But may Hall of Famers were really good for a long time yet never the absolute best at any time. Klecko tossed absurdly large men to the side like rag dolls, split double teams and was just unblockable during his prime. No one who had to block Klecko is saying he shouldn't get the call from Canton. So we blame the institution for sleeping on the Sack Exchange, and the otherworldly power and purpose of Joe Klecko.
Getty Images Forget today's metrics when measuring Namath's career. Even thought the AFL was a more pass-indulgent league, Namath didn't produce the slanted stats we see from modern passers, making his box scores more fitting for Jameis Winston than Aaron Rodgers. (For instance, Namath completed just 50 percent of his career passes.)
But when Joe Namath — who forever became Broadway Joe after a teammate teased him over his cover shot for Sports Illustrated — threw a football, no one laughed. There was a breathless majesty to his deep passes and tight spirals. We all think of his blessed right arm, yet Namath was also a sublime runner until he blew out his knee playing for Bear Bryant at Alabama, an injury Namath blamed on failing to use the right footwear, rendering him a one-legged quarterback for his entire time as a Jet. Despite the laughable litany of injures that crippled his career, Namath still leads the Jets in passing attempts, passing yards, touchdowns and interceptions.
There were two things his Jets teammates never doubted — his talent or toughness. Despite signing for an unprecedented sum out of college when the Jets drafted him with the first overall pick, Namath was about teamwork and winning. While the Baltimore Colts were crew cuts, shaved faces and suits, Namath was long hair, sideburns and fur coats. Baltimore was so heavily favored to win Super Bowl III that Namath was all but laughed out the building when he guaranteed a Gang Green victory. Not only did Namath dissect the best defense in the world, he called his own plays, and had the humble foresight to run the ball and bleed the clock in the fourth quarter of a shocking 16-7 upset of Don Shula's Colts, who were up to 18-point favorites. Namath never recaptured the magic of that night in Miami, but his victory trot out of the Orange Bowl, his flexed forefinger waved in the air, has become the flashpoint of the AFL-NFL merger.
Joe Namath is not the most important player in the history of pro football. But he won its most important game. And he found his home as the first Jet inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 1985.